Excuse Me While I Veer Off Topic

My topic for this particular blog entry has little to do with entertainment. My topic may also upset some people. My point in posting this entry is simply to show you how "out there" a particular group of people is. In some ways, I feel it might be better just to ignore these people and hope that they will go away, but when PennLive.com mentions this group on their main page and the Patriot News plans to run an article about this group, it is impossible to ignore them. Even if everyone did ignore them, I doubt they would go away anyhow. Also, just a word of warning. I'm going to use some language that I myself would not normally use, so please do not misinterpret quotations for things that I personally believe.

The PennLive.com headline I saw earlier today was this: "Protesters fail to show at local soldier's funeral". The protesters being referred to are members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. To cut right to the chase, this "church's" website is www.GodHatesFags.com, so that should give you some kind of idea about their agenda. I've seen and heard members of this group on The Howard Stern Show. Immediately, some of you are probably thinking that Howard had them on because he agrees with this group. If that's the case, you couldn't be further from the truth. When members of the group appear on his show, Howard attempts to ridicule them and argue with them, but these people are practically brainwashed (or indoctrinated) to spout their beliefs. When asked by Stern "Why do you hate fags?" they all answer back "We don't hate fags. God hates fags." Also, the group members readily spout Bible verses which serve as the basis for their beliefs. (This includes their pre-teen children.) Honestly, when you read these Bible verses, they do in fact believe what God says - to the letter. The problem is how they twist events around to support their beliefs.

For instance, they believe that God tricked President Bush into the Iraq War as a way of punishing America. All of the soldiers being killed are God's way of punishing a "fag-run country". I guess. If you go to their web site's FAQ, it also says something about a fire-bomb attack on their church in 1995 which resulted in "bringing down the unmitigated and irreversible wrath of God upon this evil nation, manifesting itself in the daily bloody IED (Improvised Explosive Device)-deaths of American soldiers in Iraq and other places." I don't quite understand how the firebomb attack of 1995 directly resulted in this since we weren't in Iraq in 1995. I guess this was all part of God's plan.

While I was at work this afternoon, I was listening to a replay of the Bubba The Love Sponge Show on Sirius Satellite Radio from October 4, 2006. In a bit of a coincidence, this show featured a phone interview with Becky Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church. At the time the show originally aired, it was just prior to the funerals for the Amish children who were killed in Lancaster County. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church were threatening to picket their funerals and Bubba was trying to talk them out of it. What amazed me is that Becky Phelps didn't believe the planned protest would hurt the affected families. She said that the picket was to protest Governor Ed Rendell and Pennsylvania's policies as they relate to homosexuals. (Although she didn't have anything particularly nice to say about the deceased Amish children either.) When browsing around on the group's website, however, their press release concerning the Amish picket states that they were planning the picket due to Governor Rendell's recent appearance where he "slandered and mocked and ridiculed and condemned Westboro Baptist Church on national Fox TV". So in other words, it was simply to retaliate against the Governor.

Bubba offered the group airtime if they would agree to call off the protest. Apparently a number of other broadcasters did this and they accepted an offer from "The Mike Gallagher Show". Whoever he is. But I'm sure a number of you are probably saying the same thing about "Bubba The Love Sponge". (He's on one of Howard Stern's stations.)

Anyhow, the fact that I saw the headline about the protesters for the local soldier's funeral and that I heard this woman on the radio today is what prompted me to write about this topic. These are some very sick individuals. They don't seem to care about anybody except their own group. Also, when Bubba asked Becky Phelps how she would feel if one of her children was killed by a maniacal killer, she said that it would never happen because God watches over those who uphold his word.

By the way, this group believes that only a very small number of Christians will go to Heaven. Mainly just the members of their church. Forget about everyone else.

Finally, I should probably point out some of the other websites maintained by this group so you can see the broad spectrum of their message:

If nothing else, they are consistent. I wouldn't recommend visiting the sites, though - at least not to e-mail them nasty messages. You can't argue with these people. They will take your argument and turn it against you. I think the best thing we can do is spread the word about these people so everyone is aware of them and what they stand for and then not allow them to twist events around to promote themselves.

OK. I've got that off my chest. I will try to stick to entertainment topics for awhile now.

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